The Precursors
"They tell the people that the Gods are among us, but they lie. Those who came before had their own Gods - objects of worship and reverence, who were much less holy. When we are gone and turned to dust, shall we become revered by those we leave behind? Does that make us more godly? I think not. Yet the Precursors came so very close..."'' '' When Humanity first left its' home planet, it dreamed of meeting alien civilizations, though those who believed in the possibility were far fewer than those that did not. However, none would have expected what was discovered: the Covenant were powerful beyond belief, deriving their technology through the recycling and imitation of their predecessors' technology, that of the Forerunners. Without a doubt, the Forerunners were powerful in their prime, capable of defeating lesser or equal races with little effort: the ancient alliance of Humans and San'Shyuum fell to them with little issue, and the Flood only overpowered the Forerunners through their early carelessness and the Flood's overwhelming numbers. But before even these giants of the universe, there was another race, one powerful and ancient enough that they were worshiped as gods by the Forerunners themselves. These were the Precursors. Forming a civilization three-quarters of a million years ago, the Precursors would continue to advance themselves throughout the millenia that followed, growing ever more powerful as they did. Expanding across the stars, the Precursors would leave marks unlike any others across the galaxy, both with their military power and their scientific achievements. The Precursors fall was a complicated series of failures: The Civil War, the creation of the Flood, The myth of the Hydra and the final push of the Forerunners all helped in the eventual downfall of this powerful and intelligent race. They vanished, became extinct, their legacy only surviving in the structures they left behind. The Timeless One is the only known Precursor to exist into the "Forerunner Era." The Precursors are thought to be extinct, or are they? Could they have evolved into gods? Could they have transcended to different dimensions? Or did they leave the galaxy, waiting for a reason to return? Whatever the reason behind their sudden disappearence, they leave the galaxy and Mantle to the Forerunners, and whoever succeeds them... History Origins The Precursors first came to existence by their accidental creation by the Primals. They settled on Zeban, soon reaching Tier 0, the highest technological level on the Forerunner technological advancement scale. They were only found by the Primals some 8 to 7 Trillion years ago. The Precursors, before their discovery by the Primals used a caste system of "Dynasties" where there were seperate tribes all lead by one powerful family, a Dynasty. The weaker tribe would be subjugated by more powerful tribes, but sometimes this would cause rebellions. All of this came to an end when the Dynasty warlord Lepidop used his tribe to declare war against the other tribes. Eventually, the rebellions ended in the formation of the Precursors as a single, united race under a central leadership. The Precursors were not the only race to thrive on Zeban, and the Heralds and Predecessors, feared their rise to power and immediately declared war. However, the Precursors quickly overran the planet and became the dominant species. At this time, they were only Tier 3, and would not encounter the Primals for millions of years to come. With Zeban fully Precursor inhabited, they began making large scale cities and town communities. By the time they were finished populating the planet, they had reached Tier 1. After discovering unknown technological artefacts however (known as Primal Constellation Crystals) they immediately beefed up to Tier 0, a technological level only reachable via the Crystal. Sensing it's activation, the Primals discovered Zeban and the crystal was taken away. The Precursors immediately worshipped them as gods and thought they were there to send them to spiritual trascendence but instead, their entire race was enslaved. Slavery The Precursors are immediately forced into labor. They are seperated all over the Universe, put on every Primal colony to work on their structures, economy and serve in their military. Eventually one Precursor, known as the Timeless One decided he had had enough and began secretly creating the Supremial, the official Precursor state of government. He also established the religon known as the "Mantle" which demanded the worship of Peace, and not war. Precursor-Primal War The Supreme Primal demands that the Timeless One disregard this action, and return to slavery. Angered by the Supreme Primal's arrogance to accept to the Mantle, the Timeless One instead gathers a army which eventually recruits all the Precursors and he assaults UniPrime. Knowing that war is official, Griffin responds with anti-warfare declaring that the Precursors are no longer slaves but hostile and to be shot on sight. The war spands 26 centuries and is one of the most lethal wars to known in history. In the eventual climax of the war, the Precursor's emerge victorious with the Timeless One's tactical mastery proving to be much more than the Primal's, he is able to trap them in slipspace for all eternity. He begins rebuilding his race and using scavenged Primal Tech, he begins "towing" Zeban out of Universe One. Universe Two and the Civil War After leaving Universe One, the Precursors used Primal technology to create Universe Two, where they settled in the Milkly Way Galaxy. They placed Zeban just near the center, and created the Unggoy, Kig-Yar, Sangheili, Mgalekgolo, Jiralhanae, Yanme'e, San'Shyuum, Humanity and the Forerunners. However, they take special interest in Humanity and the Forerunners and beef them up to Tier 1. Almost immediately, Humanity and the Forerunners have created vast, interstellar empires. During this course, a faction known as the Elders who worship the "Hydra" decide that the Mantle is a blasphemy to all they believe in and try to convert all the other Precursors to Hydraism. This fails, and learning that Hydraism is based off worshipping a race known as the Hydra, which turns out to be a group of surviving Primals, declares the Elders a bunch of heretics to the Mantle, and demand them eradicated. A Civil War, or most preferrablely, a Holy War, sparks with the Eternals (the pro-Mantle faction) beginning a eradication campaign against the Elders. This war was lethal and deadly. However, due to a less dedicated army, the Elders were losing badly. Eventually they resorted to the creation of the Flood which would be unleashed on Zeban. However, the parasite became out of control was instead placed on Planet Designate 221, where a Anti-weapon known as the Malidasium, basically the Flood 2.0, except 200 times more powerful and more loyal to the Elders. This sparked a war between these two races. The Elders were then granted assistance by the Hydra, however, due to post-God War knowledge on the Primal's power, the Hydra were unable to cause a lasting in the war. Eventually the Hydra went back into hiding, while the Elders suffered eventual defeat at the hands of the Eternals. The surviving Elders were gathered and forced to subject themselves to the Mantle. Those still loyal to the Hydra, were executed on behalf of the Timeless One who gained the title "Holy Representitive of the Mantle." Precursor War of survival against the Flood After defeating the Malidasium, the Flood infect a Precursor recon vessel, and head for Zeban. It infects a multitude of vessels on the way there. Identifying the vessels as hostile, the Precursor defense platforms in orbit over Zeban vaporized most of the Flood vessels, forcing them into retreat. The Timeless One declares that the only way the Mantle can be secured, is if the Flood is exterminated. They then declare war against the parasite. The War is won with a century. The Flood's numbers are the only reason it managed to last so long. The Precursors, knowing their own technology than the Flood, lay waste to the Flood forces and ultimately take the battle outside the Universe and back to the Supreme Sphere. The Flood vainly attempt to push through the advancing Precursor line, but fail with almost no damage done. The Flood then put up a final stand where they go on a mass infection spree, trying to infect and secure as many ships for their own as possible. Initially successful in pushing the Precursors back, the Flood eventually succumb to defeat and are trapped in the Supreme Sphere. The Timeless One declares them "exiled" and calls his forces back so they can rebuild from both the Civil War and the Flood war. However, the Precursors end is near. Return of Hydra After the Precursor-Flood reached it's total climax, the Hydra took their chance to attack the Precursors. This was unexpected, and significant damage was done to capital cities on Zeban. However, the Hydra were forced to rethink their strategy and decided to invoke hatred among the Forerunners. They told the Forerunners that the Precursors were planning their extinction, and this forced the Forerunners to mobilize their forces and prepare for a incoming attack. However, by this time, Hydra's leader had been captured and killed, becoming the first Primal's to be killed. This eventually forced Hydra into surrender, and now the Primal race was never going to threaten the Precursors ever again. Precursor-Forerunner War and the Decline of the Precursor race The Forerunners were now ready, but instead of waiting for a immediate attack, they attacked Zeban. The Timeless One then saw this as a declaration of war and so the final fight of the Precursors began. The Precursors however, were too exhausted in Military strength to be sufficiently resist the Forerunners. After 2 centuries worth of fighting, the Forerunners finally captured Zeban. The Timeless One escaped on a Paradise-class fighter, but it was infected by the Flood and he was turned into a Gravemind. His remaining forces were put under the backup command of The Warrior. He continued to resist the Forerunners but it was in vain. Colony after Colony after Colony fell to the Forerunners. Eventually the Warrior's forces had no choice but to make a final stand on Planet Designate 221. However, a remainder of Flood here infected both a majority of Forerunner and Precursor forces alike, forcing the Forerunners to bombard the planet from orbit. This wiped out the Flood forces and the Warrior's forces. He was captured, interrogated and executed. During his interrogation, he told them about the Mantle. He stated: "My death means nothing. My race is finished. We have no longer the god like will to keep leading you peace, clarity and tranquility. You however, can. The Timeless One would most certainly approve. You may have destroyed us, but we believe you are the true inheritors of the Mantle, and Humanity. Both your races can lead all the other races of the Universe on a Journey into spiritual transcendence. Do with me as you wish, my time is well spent. Go, guiders of all life, for your time to shine, has dawned." The Forerunners then adopted the Mantle as their religon but began exterminating all Precursor life. The eventual Precursor fate is unknown. Like the intro states, alot of things could have happened. However only one speculation can be used. The Precursors as of 190,000 BCE are presumed Extinct. Description Anatomy and Physiology It is often not to compare alien tissue with human tissue. The convergent evolution bipedalism in sentient organisms throughout history is certainly astonishing, but in most regards the Precursors break this streak. For one thing, they have a thick chitinous exoskeleton and sensory antenae that flow down their backs. They are also extremely thin, to the point of being skeletal, except at the abdomen which is extremely muscular. Their hands possess three digits and their feet two, with the tips possessing minisucule microscopic sensory/manipulative fillaments, increasing their ability to grip, manipulate objects, and generally improve their use to their ability. Their legs are digitigrade, allowing them superior running and jumping ability - with modern digitigrade species have difficulty with ladders and stairs, the Precursors seem to have no such difficulty, shunning physical elevation in favour of anti-gravity lifts, which they pioneered. Religon Their religon was solely based around the Mantle. They believe that peace is what allows you to transcedend all living time and space, allowing you to see what lies beyond hatred and war. It is quite possibly the first religon not to involve the worshipping of a god, but more of a state. It is thought that Precursor Neural Physics also helped them in progressing in the Mantle. The Mantle also appears to be a religon that can only be worshipped by those seen fit to succeed it's previous worshipper, meaning it must be earned, not simply worshipped. Political System The Precursor Sovereign Dominion aka "The Supremial" was the name of the government and political power that the Timeless One devised as the central unification for the Precursor race. {C The Conclave The Conclave is the executive branch of the Precursor government. Led by two Lieges, The Timeless and Knowledgeable One and also includes five Adjudicators: the first Nroht oversaw all the Dominion's economic and agricultural assets, ensuring that there were no upsets in the money flow and all ran smoothly in the economy as well as ensuring that the Dominion would have enough food for all; the Second Nroht dealt with the overseeing of the Precursor's religous services (much like Humanity's catholic pope) and the recording of all Precursor history; the Third Nroht, ensured that all were properly educated and that no dissident or rebellious works of writing were released (the exact definitions of "rebellious" were left up to the Third Nroht); The Fourth Nroht, was something of grand overseer of science, ensuring that science and technology was always moving forward for the betterment of the Dominion as a whole; the final, Fifth Nroht looked after Dominion territory, ensuring that all was properly mapped and like, as well as make sure that information was always kept on the exact locations of all members of the Dominion. The Synod The Synod is both the legislative and judicial branches of the Sovereign Dominion’s political system, being highly similar to the Sangheili High Council. Each Dynasty forms its own group, called a Coterie, which consists of three to five seats depending on the size of the Dynasty, with a total of one hundred and eight seats available in all. The Synod’s purpose is a two-part job of dealing with civil matters: first, the individual Coterie’s in the Synod conceive and create the laws of the Sovereign Dominion, which they then vote upon and either pass or fail; secondly, they then interpret the law in order to carry out the prosecution of those that break the law. It should be noted that the laws of the Dominion were recorded as being very strict, called totalitarian by many: even “small” deeds such as a small theft or a public outbreak of dissension between two beings could result in prison sentences or, while more radical persons were in power, death even. Oddly enough, matters that happened in private were practically ignored by the Precursors’ government: the exact reasoning behind this ideology is unknown. Presiding over each Coterie is a Mogul, also referred to as a Guams, whose vote represents that of the entire Coterie. However, no official delegations or meetings are made to determine what the Coterie’s view on any given subject should be: instead, each individual member must tell the Mogul their personal view on the matter, and in the end he will choose how to vote based on these comments and his personal judgement; it has even been recorded where Moguls decided to vote in total disregard of the views of the Coterie’s members. However, nothing restricts how a Mogul may be persuaded, so everything short of threats are used, including bribes; in addition, members of the other Coterie’s are able to “convince” other Mogul’s, though this is much more difficult due to the fierce political/Dynastic rivalries involved. In the end, the votes of the Moguls are all turned in the Seignior, who then reports the turn-out. The Two Lieges The Sovereign Dominion is led by the Two Lieges, the Seignior (or Arihpas) and the Overlord (or Arijog). The first of these two, the Seignior, serves as the leader of all civil matters and is officially the leader of the Sovereign Dominion; the second, the Overlord, serves as the supreme leader of all military operations and forces, and because of the many wars of the Precursors and the immense power of the military, the Overlord is the de facto leader. The Seignior’s main duty is to preside over the Conclave and the Synod and ensure that order is observed and rules are followed. The majority of this duty is focused on overseeing the Synod and ensuring that the persistent argument do not erupt into raucous fighting. In addition, the Seignior acts as the reader of the law, the judge in trials of criminals, the announcer of the outcome of a vote, and in the event of a tie vote, the breaker of such a tie. The Overlord’s duties are completely over all military operations: however, as there are only a very few restrictions on what the Overlord can do – and these only over the most extreme of situations – and due to the consistency of war in the Precursor’s history, the Overlord effectively became the de facto leader of the Dominion in its’ early years. The Overlord oversees all military missions, operations and battles, he directs the movements of the armies, the allocation of troops, the defensive positions, the lessons taught in the military camps, the development of weapons and other technology, and even the evacuation of entire planets in the case of invasion. The Apostles Armed Forces The Precursor military evolved over their civilization's long and glorious lifetime, passing through three stages. The first stage was the commonplace stage held by almost all civilizations, and it was the use of their own troops for all of their military operations. Due to the Precursor's high rate of reproduction, their population, and consequently their army, was the largest ever seen in the galaxy, and as time moved on the Precursors' creativity and ingenuity allowed them to created more and more complex weaponry, vehicles, and eventually unmanned drones, which in the end led to the second stage of their armed forces. When at last the Precursors moved to the second stage, they already had half the galaxy under their control, and were at war with other races, the Heralds and the Predecessors. It was in this time that the Precursors perfected their drone technology, creating many forms of robots that were on par and above the capabilities of the Forerunner's Sentinels and Monitors. During this timeframe, the Precursors also began to use cyberneticly augmented troops, as well as cyborgs; the latter of these, however, was outlawed after being deemed inhumane, as dead bodies were used to create them, though cybernetic enhancements continued to be used until the Precursor's disappearance. The final phase of the Precursor military came late in the Precursor-Primal War: this third form of military was the use of genetic manipulation and cloning to create "grown" armies of beings that would prove useful to them. These first armies were created via the mass cloning of "Sub-Cursors," dumb organics with no free will who only did as they were told. These armies were not used very long, due to many Precursors finding it distasteful to create slave armies for themselves; the process, however, was condoned by the entire leadership of the Dominion, and once the process went through some revision, large world-stations filled with the necessary equipment to create organically grown armies were left behind after the Precursor-Forerunner War, to lay dormant till the Precursors (or any other race) awoke them to create armies from the nearby seeded races that carried the necessary genetic material to create the armies. Training Part of the fierceness of the Stage 1 Precursor Armed Forces – the time when it was still composed fully of all-organic Precursors – was the rigorous training exercises that all the soldiers went through prior to any combat action. The physical training was excruciating, with the combined use of constant training, a healthy diet and non-addictive/detrimental enhancement drugs making the Precursors 300% more fit by the end of the seventeen month training session. After the seventeen months of perfect conditions, the soldiers then underwent an additional seven months of training in the worst conceivable conditions; without any contact with the outside world, highly limited rations (usually forcing fasts on multiple troops in a squad), extreme temperatures and conditions; these months at the end of the training helped to further the soldier’s ability to survive both physically and mentally. However, despite all this, the true power of the Precursor training regime was the mental training: using long sessions of tactics that were essentially brainwashing, extensive use of logic and complex thinking training – as well as lessons on higher mathematics, medicine, and other such things for specialists – large amounts of drills in the use and resistance of psychological warfare, and lastly a form of soul-searching where one was forced to constantly search inside themself and face their fears so that the soldier, in conquering the fear, would grow stronger. In the end, the Precursors had a discipline and faith far beyond even the most extreme Sangheili or Vorenus warriors, while being able to temper it with the ability to think straight and see when a commanding officer’s orders needed to be disregarded.